Light With The Sharpened Edge
by Duckster's-Rave
Summary: Set after Battle City. Everything seems to be going well for the gang, Marik's gone, Ryou and Bakura seem to have found some common ground, and even Kaiba's less of a jerk. But then the killing's start in Domino City, and Malik's hearing voices... MxYB
1. Attraction and Insanity

**AN: ****So, about this – the idea for a multi-chaptered YGO fic hit me a while ago, but with a completely different pairing- Angstshipping - but then watching and reading a lot of the Battle City arc put this idea into my head, and the plot bunnies pretty much had me at gunpoint, as usual XD But I shall get back to the Angstshippy one soon – it's too fun an idea! ^-^**

**Anyhoo, the almighty and amazing person that is Lantu presents her first Thiefshipping fic! **

**Ryou: *pouts* Why do these always include me or Bakura or Malik? I mean, you've had Tendershipping – who the heck came up with that name anyways? – Angstshipping and now Thiefshipping? What's going to be next? Bronzeship-**

**Malik: *Throws a hand over Ryou's mouth* Don't. Give. The fangirl. IDEAS!**

**Lantu: *Shrugs* I'm not really a Bronzeshipper; I've never got how it could work, because to me it's narcissism at the highest level…unless you have a different backstory for Yami Malik…*grins evilly* Uh, Malik..? **

**Malik: No.**

**Lantu: You don't even know what I'm going to ask!**

**Malik: Still, no.**

**Lantu: *pouts and folds her arms* It's not like you're gonna have a say anyways…Anyhoo, this is a yaoi/shonen-ai fic, so readers beware! Yeah, it's gonna be heavier than my usual fics…cos I'm in a perverted mood *laughs* Oh, and one more thing before I get killed by Bakura and Malik, I do not own YuGiOh.**

**Bakura: Otherwise I'd get to punch the Pharaoh in the face each episode? *grins hopefully***

**Lantu: No, otherwise Thiefshipping would be canon and in every episode*Laughs evilly and runs off* Enjoy!**

**Light with the Sharpened Edge**

**Chapter one – Attraction and Insanity**

Malik jerked wildly, almost falling off his chair as he was poked sharply from sleep by a finger jabbing sharply into his side.

"Wha-? I'm up, I'm up! What's goin- oh." He glanced around, slightly embarrassed at Yugi-tachi staring at him from their own desks. He pulled a hand through his platinum-blond hair and grinned sheepishly at Ryou who sat next to him, hand still raised if the need arose to poke the Egyptian again. "I fell asleep again, didn't I?" He yawned in pointless emphasis, shrugging at the looks he was getting from the group. "Still not used to the early mornings, I guess." At this, Yugi-tachi merely shook their heads in vague amusement and turned their attentions to the teacher - or under-the-desk Duel Monsters game in the case of Jou and Honda - who was oblivious to the class's lack of interest.

Malik just yawned again and stared at the blackboard, and not for the first time that week, he wondered why he'd decided to stay in Japan. And not for the first time he asked himself why he'd decided to enroll himself in the same school as the people he'd attempted to kill several months earlier.

He blamed Bakura, for both the staying-in-Japan thing and also for the events of last night. (1) He stole a sideways glance at the boy who still hosted the ancient spirit, although Ryou himself and Yugi-tachi were still unaware of that fact. Or if they did know about it, they seemed content do nothing about it. After all, it wasn't like Bakura had tried to kill anyone lately; and even Malik had to admit that the thief had calmed down a little since the events of Battle City.

_A _little. Malik thought, _Doesn't mean that he's stopped attempting to drag me along on his latest schemes. _He rested his head in one of his hands, grinning wryly. Then again, he'd pretty much seen it coming. Bakura _was _a thief after all – he was just doing what came naturally.

What Malik _hadn't _seen coming was the fact that whatever gods were out there hated him; as was evident with what had happened after the final duel of Battle City between his dark half and the Pharaoh. After Malik had finally taken control of his body for the first time in what felt like months and given the Pharaoh the final God Card, everything seemed to be going his way for the first time in a long time. And, as clichéd as it sounded, he soon found out that he was wrong. _Very _wrong.

***

_Malik had been unable to sleep, deciding instead to stare at the low ceiling until he was sure everyone else was fast asleep, then slipped quietly out of the door of his room to make his way to the roof-top duel arena of the blimp. He stood for a while just outside the doorway he'd come through and breathed in deeply, enjoying the feeling of the cold night air around him as it messed up his blond hair. He knew he was being soft, but it was just so, well, a nice night that he smiled to himself happily. _

_Finding his way up to the top of the dueling arena, Malik leaned his tanned arms over the metal and gazed out quietly at the water far below as the blimp carried them back to Japan. The reflections of the half-full moon and blimp's shadow flickered playfully over the surface of the ocean like some kind of dolphin. All in all, it was a pretty beautiful sight. He chuckled to himself, fully aware that he sounded totally mushy. _

"_I swear, if I'm going soft, I'm going to get my Rod back off Yugi and stab myself with it. Repeatedly. In the face."_

_He was free. For the first time for pretty much his whole life, Malik wasn't tied down by his duties, or his studies, or the darker half of him that had been in his head since he was ten years old. '_Maybe I don't have to go back,' _he thought. '_Maybe I could, hell, I don't know…go somewhere else?' _He grinned. Where exactly he could go, he didn't really know or care, but at that moment, he felt like anything could happen, that nothing could go wrong. Malik laughed aloud at that thought. In movies, or books, or generally anything, whenever some poor fool said 'Nothing can go wrong', it generally did. The boat crashed, or the hero died, or the villain came back for one last parting shot..._

_Malik shrugged off the slight uncertainty that came with that last thought. This was real life, not some cheesy, made-for-TV low budget film. '_Things like that don't happen in real life. He's gone, and now I've got a whole life ahead of me – and I'm planning on enjoying every second.'

_**So, about two seconds then.**_

_Malik blinked at the half-familiar voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. He listened again, but noting nothing else making a sound, shook his head and sat down by the railings, poking his long legs through the bars to dangle in the wind below. _I swear I need to sleep more. My mind's beginning to play tricks on me.

_**Oh, am I? I hadn't noticed.**_

_There it was again, that voice! He looked around warily, trying to place its location, but to no avail. It sounded familiar; and for a moment Malik wondered if he'd left the mind link he'd had with Bakura still open._

_**Che. Don't insult me, please. I sound **_**nothing**_** like that poor excuse for a thief.**_

_Malik shook his head again, rapidly this time, and covered his face with his hands. He could feel it, that familiar sensation in his head, of not being alone, starting to press down on his skull. It was as if somehow, irrationally, a small bird or large moth had become caged inside his skull and was beating its wings furiously to be free. _But it's impossible… That's it; I've finally gone crazy.

_**And you weren't before?**_

_He heard it chuckle and flutter around his mind again. '_No…please…'_Malik blinked slowly, and looked out hollowly at the once-beautiful sight below. '_Not it. Him.' _This didn't make any sense – he'd never been able to even hear the other's voice in his head before, (2) this _had_ to be something else. He bit down on his lip sharply, attempting to distract himself from that feeling of something trying to force itself out of his brain. ' _Please, let it be something else, anything but that psycopath…'

"_**Aw, you're not even going to credit me with a name? I'm hurt, seriously." **__This one hadn't come from just inside his head…_

_Malik whipped his head around wildly, blond hair ruffling with the movement he made as he looked up at the creature before him. What he saw standing there was the same warped mirror-image of himself that had almost succeeded in killing off his part of their shared mind and everyone else on board the KaibaCorp blimp. It smirked cockily down at him whilst seeming to look through him at the same time with that terrifying vague gaze. For a second neither said anything, eyes locked, terrified violet staring into hazy amethyst. _

_The standing one's cape billowed in a non-existent wind, and he leered at the sitting blond whilst putting his arms out wide, almost as if he were asking the other to hug him. _

"_**What, didn't you miss me? What's it been? Days, weeks, hours? The time flies by **_**so **_**quickly when you're less than even a fleeting thought in eternal pain and darkness – which was meant to be where **_**you **_**were going, not me."**_

_He narrowed his eyes at the teen, who had now switched his eyes firmly back on the view of before. _

_Malik squeezed his eyes shut, hoping furiously against everything he could see or hear that this wasn't happening. He had his head in his hands again for all the good it would do, in a child-like attempt to block it out. _

"_You're not real, it's just my head playing tricks on me… This isn't really happening…"The other merely raised an eyebrow and once again folded his long arms. _

"_**Are you **_**really**_** that deluded? I'm as real as you are – after all, I am part of you."**_

"_You're not." Malik still had his face firmly in his hands; a sharp spike of pain beginning to wedge its way through his head. "You're not real and you're not part of me. You, you, you're…" He had no idea why he was still addressing this delusion, and was instinctively terrified that part of him seemed to recognize this…_thing _as reality. _

_Marik giggled, almost insanely; which was fitting. _

"_**I'm what? Psychotic? Crazy? Evil?" **__The dark spirit snorted disdainfully. __**"Like you've not been as bad as me, you silly boy. And as for if I'm real or not…" **__Marik kneeled by his distraught lighter half, who was still trying to refuse to acknowledge his presence. Malik was close to breaking down completely; Marik could feel the boy's emotions rushing through their once-again shared mind. The hope and happiness prior to this…that had been almost sickening for the phantom. But now? As he could feel his hikari edging closer and closer to total despair as he realized the inevitable was to happen again? That was _delicious. _**"Does it **_**really**_** matter? After all, it's not like you could have **_**truly **_**fooled yourself into thinking that you were free, could you? That that moronic brother of ours and that Ra-damned Pharaoh had finally split us apart for good? They can't. They will never be able to. Because let me tell you this: you need me; whether you like it or not. After all, right now…I'm all you have …" **__With this, the yami placed an almost gentle hand on Malik's shoulder._

_The Egyptian teen jerked his arm away, an expression of pure rage morphing onto his features that matched Marik's own. The other just smirked; despair and emotional agony was nice enough, but the lack of reaction had become a little boring, and he was pleased to see that he was about to get a _hell _of a reaction from the boy. _

_Malik practically jumped to his feet, lilac eyes locked once more on the other man's. _

"_You're dead." He began, attempting to stare his dark half down and taking a step forward. "You died – I saw the Pharaoh get rid of you in that Shadow Game." Unable to keep his voice down to a reasonable volume, Malik's control finally broke and he screamed,_

"_WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST STAY DEAD, YOU FUCKING COCKRAOCH?! WHY CAN'T YOU, YOU –GAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" The boy's voice choked out; and unable to continue this rather loud outburst, Malik's energy seemed to leave him all at once and he sank towards the floor, once again clutching his head tightly. _

_He sat there in a blank stupor for what seemed like hours. He hadn't even heard the mocking chuckle that his yami threw his way as he retreated back into Malik's subconscious. He wrapped his arms absentmindedly around his knees and started rocking back and forth without realizing it. "_You're not real, you're not real, you're not real…_" A confused, self-pitying tear leaked out of the corner of one of Malik's amethyst eyes. (3)_

***

"_Malik? What are you-? Hey, Malik? You alive in there?" A voice barely penetrated the fog that way the Egyptian's current mind state. He felt himself be gripped in a pair of strong hands and shaken gently. _

_He flinched away from the contact. This wasn't real; reality had been lost the moment that that creature had returned. Was this some delusion his yami had made to torment him further? "You're not real. Go away…" Even to himself, Malik's voice sounded weak, lacking conviction._

"_Malik? What are you on about? Are you okay?" A pause. "Malik!" The voice sounded more than a little worried, before seeming to change to a harsher tone. "Snap out of it, you fool!" The voice's owner sounded like it was struggling with itself before the Egyptian felt an open palm connect swiftly with the left side of his face._

_Oh, yeah, _that _was real enough. The fog cleared enough for Malik to realize that he was still being held by the shoulders, and without thinking, threw his arms around the figure and crushing them in a bone-breaking hug. He didn't care who it was, with the state of mind he was in it could have been the Pharaoh for all Malik cared; he wasn't planning on letting go of the only bit of reality he'd had all night. He wanted – no, needed to feel something, _anything_ real before he finally went over the edge…_

_Several hours later; the slightly-confused teen had found himself waking up in his room on the Battle Ship with no recollection of the events of last night. He did, however, have a fluttering sensation in the back of his mind, and he could have sworn he heard a short mocking giggle before giving into sleep again…_

***

The Egyptian rubbed his eyes tiredly, at that point giving up on the lesson – he could always copy one of the gang's notes anyway. _Damn. I'm pretty sure something happened that night, and Ryou _has_ been giving me weird looks all day. Maybe…nah… _

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

_/Yami?/_

_//Yeah?//_

_/Quit it./_

Bakura would have raised his eyebrows at Ryou's comment were he in spirit form; however, as only a voice in the other's head at that moment, had to settle for another question.

_//Quit what?// _

He could hear a soft sigh escape Ryou's nose.

_/Flicking our eyes over towards Malik. I am trying to pay attention to this lesson, you know./_

On the complete contrary to what the Egyptian teen and Ryou's friends seemed to think, Ryou was fully aware that the former thief king had once again taken up partial residence in his body. At first, the boy had been terrified, and rightly so – Bakura had never been a person you could label, however loosely, with the word 'nice'. But something had changed in the thief's demeanor this time, as though Bakura had both lost and found something in the short time he'd spent in the shadows.

The thief had. He'd gained a little more sanity, and managed to lose part of whatever had been driving him to kill the Pharaoh, as if he'd finally been able to pull through his hazy insanity to see things a little more clearly.

This didn't mean that he hated the Pharaoh any less, or that Bakura was any less of a scheming, sadistic, smug bastard.

It just meant that he was a little more civil to his hikari and maybe Malik; _At a stretch…_

It had taken Bakura a long time to get Ryou to actually trust him this time – the thief had no idea _why _he wanted Ryou to, but that thought didn't seem relevant at the time; and even now the boy was still a little wary. This was most likely that he didn't believe Bakura's backstory fully, even though the former tomb robber had forced himself to show his memories of his past life, particularly the ones that explained why he was such an insane prick, in an attempt to gain Ryou's trust, or at least an understanding. The thief still had no idea even now why he'd opened up so much to his host, and had scolded himself later for starting to go soft. _'I swear, if I _am_ going soft, I am going to steal the Sennen Rod from that bastard Pharaoh and stab myself. Repeatedly. In the face.' (4)_

_//What?// _He replied to Ryou's statement earlier. _// I'm not..! Well, yeah, maybe a little. Something's weirding me out about him.//_

_/Hm. You're thinking about Battle City again, aren't you?/_

Bakura made a noise of agreement. _//Something's up with what happened that night. You saw as well as I did what Malik was like. You don't think-//_

_/What, that his yami could have returned?/ _Ryou asked with concern, unaware that the Egyptian in question had caught him staring at him_. /How would that even be possible?/_

Bakura shrugged mentally. _//If I knew that, I would be telling you, idiot.//_ He snatched control for a second again to glance once more at the subject of their discussion. _//Although…didn't Isis or someone say that Yami no Malik was a mental disorder?//_

_/Yeah, so that could mean…/_

_//That he'll come back no matter what? Not liking that idea. Not liking that idea at all…/_

***

_The same instance that Malik had been unable to sleep, a certain white-haired teenager had been sitting bolt upright in his bed, having been in that blank-eyed position for almost an hour. He suddenly blinked, deep brown eyes focusing once more on his surroundings and the half-solid form of his yami in front of him. _

"_So, if what you've shown me was true…"_

//Of course it was fucking true, dumbass! Why else would I show you_?// Bakura folded his spirit-form's arms and directed a glare Ryou's way, who shrugged. _

"_I don't know."_

//And if you _don't _believe me, why aren't you going to the reincarnation of that bastard Pharaoh and giving him my Ring right now?//

_This time it was Ryou's turn to give the spirit a look. "Because you'd stop me, obviously."_

_Bakura growled in frustration._ //That's not the point! The point is-// _He cut himself off as he heard Ryou mumble something almost undetectable._ //What was that?//

_The teen bit his lip nervously and repeated what he said whilst Bakura was ranting. "I never said I didn't believe you."_

//Then what are you on about, idiot?// _Bakura may have just revealed the whole of his painful childhood to his host, but that didn't mean he wanted to be any nicer to the kid as of yet._

_Ryou shrugged. "I was just thinking…it explains a lot."_

_The spirit rolled his eyes. _//And the award for pointing out the obvious goes to…the scrawny albino in the corner!//

_Ryou huffed in indignation as Bakura sat down next to him. "I am not an albino! I just look really pale and burn easily in the sun, that's all!"_

//So you're a vampire then.// _Bakura noted, now grinning, apparently unaware that he actually looked more of a vampire than the teenager sitting beside him. Now that Malik was all friendly with the bastard Pharaoh, he'd not had anyone to verbally spar with for a while, which had gotten boring fast. _

"_Why am I a vampire as opposed to an albino now?"_

//Because it makes sense.// _Bakura laughed and listed off points on his fingers as he said them. _//You're pale as fuck, you've got reddish eyes,//

"_They're dark brown," Ryou interjected, but enjoying the mock argument anyway. For some reason he now felt a deeper connection to the spirit, maybe because they weren't so different after all; but whatever it was, it had made them that little more friendly towards each other; as much as the thief wanted to deny it._

//You've got weird-coloured hair,//

"_So have you!"_

_Bakura raised an eyebrow. _//And whose fault is that? This body _is _based on yours, after all.// _He pointed out, before continuing. _//You're extremely skinny, and you have a fetish for dark and depressing stuff and you've got no problems with blood like normal people do. Ergo: Vampire.// _He folded his arms in a gesture of triumph._

"_I never should have let you read _Twilight…_" (5) Ryou hid his head in his hands, both embarrassed and infuriated with the spirit._

//And speaking of which; I'm feeling pretty restless tonight - and I blame you for that – so what about we go up to that weird-ass duel arena on top of this balloon for a while?//

_Ryou was silent. _

//What?// _Bakura snapped irately._

"_You're _asking _me to do something?"_

_At this question the thief just rolled his eyes. _//Of course I'm asking you. You tend to whine when I just take over and do things my way, and you are severely annoying when you whine.//

"_I don't whine!" Ryou complained, even as he stood up and made his way to the corridor. _

// Just like you don't go around sucking people's blood?// _Bakura teased, deciding to recede into Ryou's head before the boy attempted to punch him. _

"_Let's just go so you can stop complaining and let me sleep."_

//Maybe. Or maybe I'll just keep on talking. I do like the sound of my own voice, after all. It's a very sexy-sounding voice, even you have to admit that-// _Bakura was once again interrupted by Ryou_.

"_You're hyperactive again, aren't you?" He asked, as the other teen scoffed inside his head. _

//I'm a three-thousand-year-old spirit from Ancient Egypt. We don't _get _hyperactive. (6)//

"Suuuurrrreeee _you don't."_

//_Now _who's being the annoying one?//

_Ryou again stayed silent as they finally reached the rooftop dueling arena, just below the platform on which the actual duels took place. It took him almost a full minute to open the door, with Bakura being all of no use to help as he was too busy laughing at the teen, having materialized once more just to annoy him. He stepped out into the brilliantly bright night sky. "Wow. Cold."_

//And the award for pointing out the – wait, I've already done that joke, haven't I?// _Ryou nodded, only half paying attention as he walked over to the barriers and stared out at the sky. _

"_We're pretty high up, aren't we?"_

_Bakura rolled his eyes yet again in a 'Duh,' gesture._

_Ryou leaned over the edge of the barrier; dangerously close to falling off and plummeting to a painful death. "I wonder how long it'd take to fall all the way down…" He cocked his head to one side, somehow managing to look both serious and innocent at the same time._

_For once, the spirit was disturbed by Ryou's words and actions, and got ready to leap into control of the body if the boy leant any farther. _//Uh, not thinking of committing suicide are we, host? Only I'd be severely pissed if you killed us both. Granted, it _could _be funny haunting you for the whole of your afterlife; but I don't exactly fancy going two-dimensional just yet.//

_Ryou laughed loudly, a bright sound in the otherwise dark night. _

"_No. I guess I'm just being my old morbid self." He turned to look at Bakura. "I mean, I can't help being a _little _curious what it's like to, well, you know…die." He finished bluntly._

_Bakura stared out at the ground far below them as it rushed past, flickers of orange streetlights beneath flashing in his crimson eyes. The thief appeared solemn for once._ //You don't. Trust me on that.// _He winced almost imperceptibly at a flash of memory. _//And I thought coming up here was going to help me feel better. Thanks, Kiddo.// _Despite his sudden moodiness, Bakura grinned slightly at the teen, to show that there were no hard feelings between them. _

_The almost comfortable silence was broken by an agonized yell. Bakura sighed as Ryou turned in shock and surprise towards its source. '_And it just got worse…Nice._'_

"_Hey, do we know that voice?" Ryou panted, making his way up to the upper platform on top of the blimp that was the Duel Arena. _

//Think so. Let's check this out anyways, just to be sure.// 'Hey. At what point did I start running _towards _trouble, instead of _away _from it?' _Bakura wondered, before sighing again._ //I really have gone soft, you know. I blame you, Kitty.// _The jab was lost on the teenager however, as they pulled themselves up the platform to see the nearly-crumpled form of Malik Ishtar clinging onto the bars as if his life depended on them. _

//What's up with Tomb Keeper over there? Looks like he's seen a ghost.// _Bakura chuckled to himself as Ryou made his way over to the clearly upset teenager on the platform. _

"_I don't think that this isn't the time for jokes, okay? He looks really out of it." The near-albino and thief both looked on in befuddlement as Malik rose quickly to his feet as if electrocuted, staring down a spot just above his eye level. Bakura glanced that way to see if he could spot the problem. Nothing. From how far they were away from the blond Egyptian, neither could quite catch the words Malik said next, still staring resolutely at that point; but both flinched visibly as something in him seemed to snap and he cried out loudly in a voice full of confusion and severe rage. _

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST **STAY** DEAD, YOU FUCKING COCKRAOCH?! WHY CAN'T YOU, YOU –GAAAAAAGGGHHHH!" _At that point Malik broke down again, holding his head tightly in his hands before hugging his knees tightly to his chest and rocking slightly forwards and back, still shaking heavily. _

_Bakura and Ryou watched all of this in a state of almost awe; rooted to the spot – or hovering slightly on the spot in the case of the spirit. The pale boy shook his head as if to clear it, and began to make his way over to the other boy, worry etched across his drawn features. Bakura could only wonder _'What the hell?' _and follow behind dumbly. This outburst was disturbing beyond words. The whole time Bakura had allied himself with the young Tomb Keeper, he'd never known Malik to be anything less than composed. A little insane – weren't they both? – but composed netherless._

_Ryou kneeled down beside Malik, who appeared to be crying slightly and whispering something to himself under his breath. He gently put his hands on Malik's shoulders in an attempt to get his attention. _

"_Malik? What are you-?" No reply. " Hey, Malik? You alive in there?" He shook the tan teen's shoulders slightly. Ryou's deep brown eyes widened as Malik jerked away from his hold and muttered, "You're not real. Go away…" _

"_Malik? What are you on about? Are you okay?" _'Okay, that was a stupid question.' _Ryou bit his lip nervously and glanced over towards his yami in support, but Bakura was gone. _/Bakura? Are you there?/ He asked silently, sighting in relief when the spirit answered.

//Yeah, I'm here. You need to snap the kid out of this and fast before he goes deeper into shock.//

/But what can I do?/ _Ryou tried shaking Malik once more, calling the Egyptian's name several times to no avail._

//Simple. Hit him in the face.//

A pause.

/_What?_/

//Trust me, this will work.//

/But,/ _Ryou looked again at Malik. He looked so much like a terrified child caught in the midst of some awful nightmare… The white-haired boy shook his head._ /I can't do it./

//Then let me – I've got no problem with hitting people, you know that.// _Bakura felt, rather than heard Ryou sigh, and switched control so that it was him holding the distraught teenager. _//Just hope that this works, otherwise the kid's fucked.//

/Wha-/ _Ryou didn't get a chance to finish his exclamation as Bakura brought his hand around and slapped Malik fully in the face, the sharp snap resounding into the still night air. Malik jolted from the blow; then blinked slowly, seeming to come out of his stupor. "See?"Bakura announced triumphantly "Told you it'd work!"_ _Both watched Malik carefully those next few seconds as he stayed still, blinking rapidly. He turned to face Bakura, and then did the last thing that either of the white-haired boys were expecting._

_He hugged him. Tightly and painfully, yes; but a hug nonetheless. Bakura's eyes bugged and his pale jaw dropped open as he stared at the teen clinging onto him._

"_Host?"_

/Yeah?/

"_He's hugging me…"_

/I noticed./

"_He's_ hugging_ me."_

/Well, it's only to be expected – he _has_ justhad a traumatic experience, after all./

"_That's not what I'm bothered about, Ryou!"_

/Then what's the problem?/

_Bakura attempted to unclasp the Egyptian's arms to no result. _"_The problem is:_ HOW THE BLOODY HELL DO I GET HIM OFF OF ME?!?!"

**End Chapter**

**Notes: **

**1=No, I don't know what they got up to either, but I assure you it's nothing dirty – that's all to come XD (lol pun.) Let's just say that they robbed a bank or something, I dunno *shrugs***

**2=He hasn't; this is only from what I've seen in the anime and manga when they only speak face-to-face, though XD**

**3=Yes, I'm aware that this seems completely out of character, but if you look at the end of the manga series of Battle City, Malik does lose a lot of his badass-evil-genius-ness. Don't worry; he'll get it back soon! :D**

**4=Noticed the parallelisms in the way that Malik and Bakura think here? Look out for more of that – there's a reason… *laughs evilly***

**5=Yeah, I've been watching too much YuGiOh The Abridged Series, but the joke was too easy to pass up XD Anyone else think that Ryou would make the most adorable vampire ever?**

**6=I heard Bakura saying a line similar to this somewhere and knew that it was going to come back to haunt me CX**

**So, there it is! The first chapter of Light With The Sharpened Edge! I'm glad I managed to end it on a somewhat cheery note – although I use that term lightly here – and that there was plenty of Bakura. Because he is pure win :D And I know that Malik's having an Emo-moment, but don't worry – these are going to not going to be often; and they don't really count because it's going to be that Malik can't actually remember his Yami every time for a while, because writing Malik all angsty makes me feel depressed too. XD **

**Anyhoo, what did you guys reckon? Good, bad, mediocre? Confusing, made sense, whatever? *shrugs* Please, please, please review and tell me what you thought! *Hands out cookies to any reviewers* **

**I'm not sure when chapter two will be up, because I'm not actually writing this in order. Don't worry – it'll be posted in order, of course!**

**Next Chapter: ****Well, this is a **_**romance **_**fic, right? So next chapter we'll see the pairings and whatnot! And more Bakura. Because he owns XD**


	2. Mini Chapter: Here come the fangirls!

**AN: ****Wow, this thing's pretty popular isn't it? Thanks to everyone who added it to their lists, and especially thanks to those of you who took the time out to review!**

**This chapter is not really a proper chapter, more of a bonus thing to stop you all whining- I mean, as a Christmas present to make you all happy! …Honestly!**

**Disclaimer: Do I look like a bloke called Kazuki Takahashi? …Don't answer, it's rhetorical. Therefore I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!  
…Although I wouldn't mind owning Malik…*perverted snicker***

**Mini-Chapter – Oh, What a Beautiful Morning(!) **

Ryou mustered the harshest glare that would work on his far-too-innocent face and aimed it at the figure in the mirror that was still steamed up from the shower he'd just come out of. His damp hair was grey from the water, but was gradually becoming almost as white and fluffy as the towel he was using to dry it. Bakura just grinned from his position on the mirror's surface, having tried and failed to keep an innocent expression on his face. Ryou snorted at this, and rubbed his hair more vigorously with the towel, having no other way to portray his annoyance.

//_It wasn't my fault, you know._//

The whitette sighed. Why could he never get through to the sudden idiot that was his darker half? Even though it was now two months after Malik had started attending their school, neither the Egyptian nor Bakura had got any more mature. In fact, Ryou would most likely say that the pair had actually gotten _less _mature, especially when they were around each other. Something in each brought out the worst in the other, and neither the blond tomb keeper nor white-haired tomb robber wanted to stop being stupid. It was, as the spirit once said, too much fun 'fucking up society'. "It wasn't your fault that you and Malik attempted to scare the heck out of the bank clerk you decided to stalk last night; or it wasn't your fault that my body got no sleep _whatsoever _from said stalking?"

Bakura couldn't help it, he laughed aloud at that comment. //_Seems I'm rubbing off on you, kiddo. Become quite the smartass lately, haven't we?_//

The reason that the spirit of the Sennen Ring was in the mirror and not taking up a semi-physical form yet was simple: Bakura was not a morning person - having been a thief in Ancient Egypt he'd needed to become nocturnal; and being a simple image instead of a more corporeal form took up less energy. _'I admit it – I'm lazy. Then again, nobody gets up as early as this kid does – six in the morning is not natural! It's still dark, for Ra's sake!' _He thought, before snickering again as an image from last night interrupted that train of thought. _'That poor bloke(1)…not'_

//_He was an accountant, actually._// He stated aloud, randomly returning to their earlier discussion.

"That's not relevant. What's relevant is that you tell me _why _you did it, and _why _you're dragging Malik back into bad habits so soon." Ryou hid a yawn behind his hand, realizing as he did so that he sounded like a mother scolding her errant child, and smiled slightly. He really was too tired to keep being angry with Bakura anyway. It just wasted energy.

//_Simple, the guy deserved it. And as for Ishtar, wasn't it you who said we had to keep an eye on him?_// Bakura folded his arms in his usual gesture of saying 'I'm so very awesome, and I just won this argument.'

"Well, _yes, _but – wait, why did he deserve it?"

//_He just did, okay? And me and Malik were bored and needed a victim to scare shitless. Which we actually- need I go into details?_// Ryou just shrugged his school shirt on over his damp hair before trudging back to his bedroom for his jacket.

"You still didn't need to give the guy a near-fatal heart attack."

//_Aha! That's exactly it! _Nearly!// Bakura snapped his fingers in the air, now popping into existence next to his hikari. //_I _didn't _kill him! I told you I was going to keep the maiming and sending people to the shadows to a minimum – I've kept to that!_//

"Actually, you said you were going to _stop _maiming people altogether."

Bakura made a noise of disbelief. //_I only ever hurt people who had it coming! How does that put me in the wrong here? Besides, we were only playing a game with the bloke; it was completely harmless._//

The hikari raised an unimpressed eyebrow at this. "What kind of game?" he asked suspiciously, only half wanting an answer, the rest of his mind focused on getting his things ready for school.

The spirit grinned again. //_The Shadow Game,_// he stated simply, laughing once more at his other half's reaction.

"You did WHAT?" Ryou whirled around to face his Yami, his expression an interesting mix of fear, anxiety, and sheer pissed-offness.

Bakura waved a hand in the air lightly, //_Relax, kid, it was _The _Shadow Game, not _a _shadow game. Capital tee, ess, gee. Basically, I invented it, back when I was a kid. (2) We'd pick a victim at random and follow them, copying everything they did whilst being as close to them as we could get without being caught._// He shrugged. //_But usually we'd get bored and scare the hell out of them. I remember this one time we tried it on with one of the palace guards – I forget his name – and that bitch whacked me so hard that my ass hurt for a-_//

"So it wasn't an actual shadow game? As in a 'somebody's-going-to-die-because-of-this' type game?" 

//_No, it wasn't an actual shadow game, Kitty. Now can we go eat now? I may only share your body, but I swear you never eat enough. I mean, anorexic much? How about I take over for breakfast? It's not like I'll make you late for school, and I could always eat on the way there,_// Bakura was beginning to get hyperactive again as he always did at the thought of food.

Ryou sighed again with a smile on his face, "Okay, but first thing, it's not my fault that you eat like a horse, and secondly, do you even know what anorexic means?"

He held the spirit's steady look for a full minute before Bakura dropped his red-tinted eyes with what seemed to be embarrassment and mumbled a quiet //_No_,// Ryou giggled at this, and in retaliation Bakura took over their body when the boy reached the kitchen.

"Well, for that, we're doing breakfast _my _way!"

Ryou grinned wryly as he now floated beside Bakura and shook his head as the spirit raided the fridge. /_Just no more mint-chocolate-chip icecream and custard on pizza for now (3), okay?_/ He saw Bakura pout.

"But you agreed that it was a good combination!"

/_We've no pizza left anyway, so even if you wanted to you couldn't. What about just Pop-tarts?_/ Ryou suggested, but then blinked at the other's suddenly sheepish expression. He face-palmed. /_Yami, did you eat all the Pop-Tarts while I was asleep again?_/

"No, of course I didn't! You got pissy the last time I did that. And the time before that, and the time before that!"

/_Okay then, what _have _you done this_ _time?_/ Bakura huffed at the 'This time' in Ryou's question, but glanced away quickly, grinning despite the tongue-lashing he knew he was going to get.

"Weeeellllll…the toaster was taking too long to toast them, so I kind of…threw it out of the window?"

/_…Out the window?_/ The other's shoulders slumped in disbelief.

"Yeah."

/_Again?_/

"Uh-huh. Actually, I think this time it hit next-door's cat…" Bakura glanced out of the window to the road ahead, where the demolished toaster was still lying in its death-throes, and a scrawny ginger cat was prowling around dazedly. He winced perceptibly as the toaster was ran over again. "I think they may not have noticed yet." Both teens stiffened as they heard a clearly annoyed yell from the apartment to their side. "Okay, scratch that; they've noticed."

Ryou was now beside himself, emotionally as well as in the literal sense. /_You hit next-door's _CAT?!_ …Oh, god, we are so _dead_…_/ He covered his face with his hands.

"Actually, I'm _already _dead and you're _going _to die when the neighbors get their hands on you." Bakura pointed out smugly, before returning to the peanut-butter and icecream sandwich he was in the process of making.

Ryou facepalmed once more. It was nice, in a way, to have the Spirit of the Ring acting less of an asshole and more of an annoying older brother – albeit one he shared a body with – but it definitely was _not _nice having to sort out all of the messes he got them involved in.

/_Is there ever any chance you'll act halfway normal anytime soon? Before you get us into something we _can't _talk or puppy-dog eye our way out of? _/

"So you finally admit you do that thing to get out of stuff?" Ryou blushed as far as his half-solid form would allow. "Ha!" The thief cackled gleefully and punched an arm in the air. "I fucking knew it!" Bakura took a triumphant bite of sandwich, strawberry icecream dripping out of the end onto the tiled floor.

Ryou sighed. This was going to be a long day.

/_I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?_/

"Not a chance."

***

"Nmph," A tanned hand shot out towards the insistent sound of an alarm clock, missing its target and almost knocking over a glass of lukewarm water left in the bedside stand from the night before. It groped around the table before discovering that the source of the annoying ringing wasn't there. The hand quickly withdrew back into the tangled ball of blankets, and they shifted, wrapping further around the bed as their occupant shoved a pillow over his head to escape the noise.

It wasn't working.

A full torturous-sounding minute later, a head of tousled platinum-blond hair shoved its way out of the mess of quilts and violet eyes blinked blearily into a pair of amused cyan ones.

Isis smiled at her brother, holding the still-ringing alarm just out of his reach. "Time to get up, Malik, you're going to be late for school if you don't get out of bed soon." Usually, Malik was always up before herself or even Rishid, but the stresses of starting a new school in an entirely new country with different customs, added onto the already huge workload he had was bound to make anyone a little worn out.

Malik closed his eyes again and laid his head back on the pillow. "Five more minutes…" He mumbled sleepily.

Isis did nothing other than switch off the alarm clock, still looking at her brother with a soft smile. "Come on, up." And with this she yanked the covers off the bed in one swift movement, the cold air suddenly jarring Malik wide awake.

"Argh-ISIS!" He squeaked loudly and reached for the quilts to cover himself back up. "Why did you have to do that?" He tried to demand, but blushing too wildly to make it serious. He pouted slightly at his evil older sister.

"Malik, I am your sister, it's not like I haven't seen you naked before,"(4) She stated simply – and did Malik detect a note of amusement in her voice? – and floated out of her brother's bedroom to leave him to get ready for school.

* * *

Malik brushed a piece of errant blond hair out of his eyes with a quick flick of his comb and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Other than the hair being a slight mess as it always was, there was nothing too wayward about his appearance. Or, there wouldn't be if it were not for the dark circles under his lilac eyes.

He once again cursed Bakura for dragging him out into Domino most nights for the past two months, although he had to admit that some of the things that they did were pretty damn hilarious, and he grinned at a memory of the previous night. 

"_Uh, Malik? Is the guy meant to be jerking around on the floor so much?"_

"Because I swear we went easy on scaring this one…"  
"Maybe we just scared him shitle-HOLY CRAP HE'S HAVING AHEART ATTACK."  
"That's not good is it."  
"Not really."  
"Ryou's going to kill me if he ever finds out?"  
"Ryou's going to kill you if he ever finds out."  
"You're calling the ambulance?"  
"I'm calling the ambulance."  
"And of course the police are going to need someone to explain this, soooo…"  
"Hey, Thief! GET YOUR IMMORTAL ASS BACK HERE!"

Malik's eyes travelled down to what were just below the dark circles – the black lines that stretched from the corner of his eye and curved at the top of his cheeks. Contrary to what everyone but his family thought when they looked at the marks, these weren't make up or kohl, or anything even close to that. These were actual tattoos, forced onto him at the much-too-young age of ten along with the lines that scarred his back…great. There went his (relatively) good mood. He sighed.

_Just what I _don't _need at this time of the morning. _Bad_ angsty, emo thoughts, go cry in the corner and die thank you very much. _ The teenager glanced at himself once more before returning back to his room to grab his schoolbag.

Several minutes later, he was completely ready to go and was now waiting outside on the balcony of his apartment to wait for Ryou, who usually walked to school with him. This was for two reasons, the first that Malik still hadn't quite gotten used to the school route and how this part of Domino worked, and the second was for a reason that still haunted the Egyptian's dreams to this day. He leaned his elbows on the small wall and a gloomy look crossed his features once more.

"Cheer up, Malik-kun, it might never happen!" Came the British boy's cheerful voice from below him and the blond boy looked down at his friend.

"Wait until the end of the day and tell me that! Trust me, it's going to happen. They are _relentless!_" As Malik spoke, he made his way back through the house with a quick hug to his sister and a wave in the general direction of his older brother and down the two stories to the outside of the complex.

Ryou was still smiling in that almost annoyingly soft way. "It'll all blow over in a few weeks, trust me on that. I know from experience."

"Pft. Let's just get to the bane of my existence before I lose my nerve again and go hide in the bushes for several hours like I did last week."

Ryou just grinned fully and started the fifteen-minute trek to Domino High. A few minutes went by in companiable silence, before Ryou asked a sudden question. "Incidentally, what was it like being urinated on by three dogs in an hour because you refused to come out of aforementioned bush?"

Malik growled slightly, not directly annoyed with Ryou, but with the memory the question he'd asked brought up. "It. Was not. Fu-Wait, how did you know about _that _part?" Ryou shrugged.

"I have my ways," He said mysteriously, before laughing at Malik's dumbfounded expression.

"Aw, come on, how did you know?" He whined, trying to tug on Ryou's arm to make him look at him. The whitette simply repeated his previous statement and took off in a run toward the school gates. "Hey, that's not funny, Limey-Man! Tell me!" The Egyptian took off after Ryou, starting to laugh at the situation himself. "_Tell me!_"

It only took the few boys another ten minutes to reach the door to their first class through the mish-mash of teenagers, Malik still trying to annoy an answer out of Ryou.

"Aw, please? Just one little sentence, that's all I need to know!" Ryou pulled his arm away from Malik's grip and continued to try to walk through the mounds of people pressing down on them.

"Malik, you know what?"

"What?" Maybe the act had annoyed the British boy just enough to get a straight answer out of him.

"Being annoying _really _doesn't suit you. Oh," Ryou paused for a second, glancing over his friend's shoulder, "and duck."

"Du-?" The question was cut off before it could even be asked by Malik suddenly being jumped by an extremely hyperactive black-haired squealing thing that made a constant 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!' sound. Malik fell to the ground, dazed and horrified all at once.

The thing – now revealed to be an over-excited teenage girl who stared at Malik with crazed blue eyes – squealed again and let loose a squeak of, "Malik! Where have you been all morning! We missed you at the gate!" The girl was still clinging to the terrified Egyptian as his friend helped him up.

Malik rolled his eyes, whilst unsuccessfully trying to push the most psychotic of Domino High's student's away. This was _just _what he needed to have first thing on a Monday.

Fangirls.

"Oh, well, it doesn't matter – we're here now!" Two other grinning girls materialized behind her.

Malik looked to Ryou for support, but the white-haired boy was already out of reach, swept away by the crowd.

He almost wanted to go hide in the bushes outside school again. "Hellooooo, Malikky?"

No matter _how _many dogs urinated on him this time...

**AN: (1) He says bloke because I've always preferred the English-dubbed voices for Ryou and Bakura, and because British accents are smexy ;) I'm not biased at all, honest! **

**(2) This is actually a thing that happened a lot in my schools, both when I was much younger and even up to last year that pissed off a **_**lot **_**of people. But was SO worth it XD **

**(3) Bakura has strange taste in food, but you can't really blame him – he's from several thousand years ago after all. Although I have tried pizza and custard and it's actually quite nice :D**

**(4) Yes, Malik sleeps**__**without anything on. Just a little bit of a pleasant mental image for all you fellow Malik-fangirls out there ^.^**

**And yes, Limey-man needed to be mentioned because I've been watching YGOTAS again :D**

**I'll probably get the actual chapter two out sometime in the new year, the only reason I haven't done so is that my school life is hoovering up all my lovely free time with its evil-ness XD**

…**Have a great Holidays and an amazing New Year, and keep tuned for the next chapter! Tsudzuku…sometime…XD **

**You know you want to pimp that review button, so do it! Now! The Lati-fangirl commands you!**


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